Snape decided to set his plan in motion during the end-of-year leaving feast. He asked Miss Lovegood to put up signs on all the notice boards around the castle, listing her missing books and clothes and offering a financial reward of twenty Galleons that would appear magically in the pocket of whoever returned the items to any place Miss Lovegood could find them. Snape could only hope the money (which he absolutely insisted on providing himself, despite Miss Lovegood's protests) would motivate the thief sufficiently to go to the trouble of spending the last evening in the castle gathering Miss Lovegood's things and that the anonymous handover he had devised would lull them into a false sense of security. Little could they know that Snape had an ace up his sleeve: Miss Lovegood's Potions book he had discovered by chance jammed behind the toilet bowl in a cubicle in the boys' bathroom. The thief's cheek obviously knew no bounds as long as it ensured hiding Miss Lovegood's things so well she had zero chance of ever finding them. On the other hand, it provided the perfect opportunity of finally catching the scoundrel red-handed. Having left the book where it was, he simply asked Miss Lovegood to include it in her list of missing things, which meant that if the thief rose to the bait, they would, sooner or later, have to come and retrieve it. Falling right into Snape's trap.
Surprisingly, it did not take much convincing to make Miss Lovegood understand how imperative it was for her to go about her business as usual in order not to make the thief grow suspicious. He could only admire her sense of reason; if he were in her shoes, he would not have given up his right to be in the thick of action so easily. As such, however, she merely made him promise to give her a detailed account of what had transpired the following day before skipping off to dinner. He, meanwhile, stationed himself near the boys' bathroom, preparing for what could turn out to be a very long wait indeed.
As he stood there, he had plenty of time to let his mind analyse the different outcomes that his experiment could bring. It was, of course, entirely possible that whoever had been stealing Miss Lovegood's things would choose to ignore the signs and not turn up at all. As much as he hated himself for even thinking it, a part of him would experience huge relief if that were the case. He could continue seeing Miss Lovegood as before and yet he would no longer feel guilty for not trying hard enough, for with the plan he had thought up he could, in all honesty, say he had really done his best. It could also happen that the culprit would, despite everything indicating otherwise, turn out to be a boy. Boys came and went all evening, and he had absolutely no way of telling if their reason for visiting the bathroom was legitimate or if any of them had come to take the book. In any case, the result would be the same as with the previous option. Lastly, of course, there was the possibility that he would catch a girl trying to sneak in. What punishment would he devise for her? Having been preoccupied with the plan itself for the last couple of days, he realised he had left this part out completely. Well, now he had all night to come up with something fit for a female version of James Potter, which is how he usually saw the thief in his mind's eye. Something that would compensate for the four years of suffering they had put Miss Lovegood through. Something...
Revelling in thoughts that were becoming increasingly more sadistic, he almost missed the two shadows that had materialised seemingly out of nowhere and entered the bathroom. This was it, then. The moment he had been heading towards and yet dreading for so long had arrived. At last, he would not only suspect who had been stealing Miss Lovegood's things, he would know.
Uncompromisingly silencing the small voice at the back of his mind that was telling him he still had a chance to back out and thus maintain his excuse for continuing to meet Miss Lovegood, he took a deep breath to control his mounting excitement and then stepped out of his hiding place. He deliberately took his time before he actually followed the little sneaks into the bathroom, giving them enough time to pick up the book. Then he lit his wand and feigned surprise as its light fell upon two terrified faces.
"Well, well, well," he drawled, shifting his gaze from one to the other, drinking in their fear. "What have we here? Miss Wilson and Miss Adams. Would you care to explain what you are doing in the boys' bathroom in the dead of night?"
It took a while, but Miss Adams was the first to recover. "We ... oh, this isn't the girls' bathroom? I'm so sorry, we must've accidentally taken a wrong turn in the dark." She took a surreptitious glance at her friend as she said it, whose hands were disappearing further and further behind her back.
"I suggest using a light next time, then," said Snape maliciously. "I believe the spell Lumos is taught in the first year." Then, without warning, he spun towards Miss Wilson. "Show me your hands, Miss Wilson," he spat.
The girl jerked horribly at the unexpected request but otherwise made no effort to move. She rather looked as though someone had cast Petrificus Totalus on her.
"Show – me – your – hands," repeated Snape, more forcefully this time, putting stress on every syllable.
Ever so slowly, as if it caused her pain, Miss Wilson finally dragged her hands from behind her back, revealing the incriminating Potions book. Snape immediately snatched it out of her grasp.
"A Potions book?" he said, turning it over in his hands. "How ... interesting. What use would it have been to you in a bathroom, I wonder? Were you perhaps planning to brew a last-minute love potion?"
Miss Adams shook her head. "I ... we wanted to ... to study."
"On the last day of the school year?" asked Snape scornfully. "In a bathroom? A likely story." And, pretending to look for something to prove the girl's lie, he started leafing through the book. In reality, however, he was well aware that the first page bore Miss Lovegood's name, drawn in fancy colourful letters, a fact he ostentatiously "discovered" a few moments later.
"Might I ask why you intended to study using Miss Lovegood's book?" he asked, his voice dripping with venom as he held the book up for both girls to see.
"She ... lent it to us," said Miss Adams, who had, it seemed, been put into the role of an involuntary speaker for the pair, seeing as Miss Wilson still looked as if her tongue had been glued to the roof of her mouth.
"Which is why she has listed this book, as well as many other items, as missing," said Snape triumphantly. "I have seen the signs she put up this evening."
He gave the girl a moment to react, and when she did not, having obviously run out of lies, he carried on. "Do you know what I think? I think it is not mere coincidence you have Miss Lovegood's Potions book in your possession. I think you stole it, and all her other missing belongings as well. I cannot prove the rest, of course, but even the theft of one book could easily get you expelled, should I choose to take the matter to the Headmaster, who does not take kindly to such crimes." He paused, watching his words take effect, living off the girls' terror that seemed almost tangible. Only after he had decided he had tormented them long enough did he continue. "However, I do have a proposition for you. Tell me, truthfully this time, why you did it and I may yet leave the Headmaster out of this."
Miss Adams glanced at her friend, as if asking for confirmation. Snape could almost hear the wheels turning in her head as she weighed the pros and cons of his proposal. "We just thought it would be funny," she said finally, in a voice that was almost inaudible, looking anywhere but at him. "She's a bit weird, Luna is. It's like she's living in a different reality, where everything is pretty. She always seems so happy! All we ... all we wanted was to see her get mad for once."
"By sabotaging her marks?" asked Snape icily, though inside he was raging. If he knew how to avoid going to Azkaban, he would have throttled the girl right there for seeming to think that all her cruel actions were justified just because Miss Lovegood was different. "Are you aware she was unable to prepare for her lessons without her books? Don't you think you took it a bit too far?"
Perhaps Miss Adams sensed that she was walking on thin ice, for she appeared to shrink back at his words. "We only took her clothes at the beginning," she peeped. "We didn't even hide them that well; Luna always found them in the end. And she never got angry, either. She just seemed to take it as a part of her everyday routine. That's why we eventually got bored. We even wanted to stop, honestly we did, but ... something made us go on. That's when we started taking the books, too. I can see it was bad; I don't even know why we did it. It was as if ... as if..." She suddenly looked confused, and Snape noticed her eyes had become strangely unfocused. But then she shook her head and whatever had come over her was gone. "Anyway, even before Luna put up the signs this evening, we wanted to return everything. Most of her things are already on her seat in the Great Hall, where we knew she'd find them when she came down for breakfast."
Snape, however, barely heard her; he was far too preoccupied by what he had seen. However unlikely it was, everything indicated that the girls had been bewitched in some way. Well, there was only one way to make certain. He rarely used Legilimency on students, firstly because their lies were usually so feeble he could see right through them even without resorting to such extreme methods, and secondly because he had an inkling that Dumbledore would not be too pleased if he ever found out. This, however, was serious. This called for a drastic approach.
And so, convinced that Dumbledore would understand if it ever came down to it, he delved into Miss Adams's mind, pushing aside this memory and that, until he finally found what he was looking for, though it was so unexpected and shocking he almost refused to believe he had seen it. Thoroughly shaken, he broke the connection, knowing he had to leave right away, had to go and find out the whole truth. Both girls watched him with wide eyes as he muttered a hurried excuse as to the reason of his sudden departure, ordered them to collect and return the rest of Miss Lovegood's things, promised to deal with them later, and then dashed out of the bathroom as if somebody had set his robes on fire.
Luckily, his destination was not far, as with every step and every thought he gave the matter his initial shock seemed to be receding, only to be replaced by anger. By the time he reached the stone gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office, he was livid, and he was sure that had he gone a few steps further, he would have been capable of murder.
He found Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, but immediately rising to greet him warmly as if there was nothing unusual about receiving visitors at two in the morning.
"Severus!" he beamed. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Are you having trouble sleeping?"
Snape, however, was in no mood for pleasantries (not that he ever was); if anything, Dumbledore's cordial manner fuelled his rage even more.
"Cut the small talk, Dumbledore," he growled, "and tell me the truth: what did you do to Miss Adams and Miss Wilson?"
His words had the desired effect: Dumbledore's smile vanished as if by magic, and a rather stern look took its place. "I see you've been using Legilimency on our students," he said reprimandingly. "You do know what I think about such practices, don't you?"
"Practices that would not have been needed had I not been given a reason for suspicion," countered Snape. "So I'm asking again: what did you do to them?"
"Since you obviously will not let the matter rest, I shall let you in on my little secret," smiled Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling again as if he was having a good time testing Snape's nerves. "I merely..." he lowered his voice conspiratorially, "...encouraged the girls in their endeavours."
Snape had to resist the urge to wipe the irritatingly amused expression off the man's face. Preferably with his fist. "Encouraged them in stealing, you mean," he said accusingly. "Has age made your brain go soft? Why would you do such an imbecilic thing? If you knew about the thefts, why not stop them instead?"
"Ah, Severus, can you not guess?"
Snape threw him a withering look. "Stop playing games with me, Dumbledore," he hissed, his patience wearing thin. "If I knew what insane motives had led you to do what you did, I would not be here asking. Unless..." A memory suddenly came back to him of Dumbledore passing him and Miss Lovegood in the corridor, throwing them both a knowing look. He had not thought anything of it at the time, but could it possibly mean that... "Does this, by any chance, have anything to do with me helping Miss Lovegood?"
Dumbledore lit up like a Christmas tree. "Well done, Severus, I knew you would get there in the end!" he cooed, much like a teacher whose favourite student had managed to answer a particularly tricky question.
Snape merely narrowed his eyes at him. "And what exactly is it you were hoping to achieve, may I ask?" he inquired, the tone of his voice making it clear that if Dumbledore did not stop fooling around, he would not enjoy being around much longer.
Dumbledore, however, seemed to be immune to Snape's intimidation. "Isn't it obvious?" he exclaimed. "You and Miss Lovegood were getting along so splendidly but I could see you were afraid to take the next step. So I just ... gave Miss Adams and Miss Wilson a little push, planting the idea into their heads to hide a few more things here and there, simply to force you to finally act, and thus make you realise what Miss Lovegood really meant to you."
For a moment Snape only stared at him, unable to process what he was hearing, but as the words slowly sank in, the fury he had only barely been containing came back with full force. "You ... you sacrificed Miss Lovegood's grades so that I..." he spluttered, before finally finding his voice and raising it to full volume. "AND YOU SAY THIS AS IF IT WAS ALL RIGHT? HAVE YOU NO CONSCIENCE AT ALL, DUMBLEDORE? IS NO ONE SAFE FROM YOUR SCHEMES? I AM ALREADY USED TO BEING A PAWN IN YOUR GAMES, BUT HOW DARE YOU DRAG MISS LOVEGOOD INTO THIS?"
"Now, Severus, calm yourself, or you'll wake up the whole castle," said Dumbledore consolingly, seizing the opportunity when Snape was taking a breath to get a word in.
"DON'T YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" roared Snape. "WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MEDDLE IN AFFAIRS THAT ARE NONE OF YOUR CONCERN, ANYWAY? WHAT IS IT TO YOU WHO I DO OR DO NOT BEFRIEND?"
"Believe me, I only had your best interests at heart," said Dumbledore serenely. "As soon as I saw you together, I was absolutely convinced this friendship would do you both a world of good. Do you think Miss Lovegood would rather have her books than spend time with you? And you, can you honestly say you were always doing your best to catch the thieves before tonight? No, I would say you-"
"Don't," said Snape, too ashamed to hear what he had had trouble admitting even to himself. His anger was all gone; he had deflated like a balloon at Dumbledore's words, which had, without exception, hit home.
"Well, there you go," said Dumbledore, looking satisfied. "Don't tell me you regret having found this new friend. It was high time a ray of sunshine penetrated that dark world of yours, and I can't think of anyone better for the job than Miss Lovegood. I've seen you together; you were positively glowing, and so was Miss Lovegood. The girl adores you, Severus, anyone can see that. Don't be afraid to grow fond of her. If there's one person in the world who deserves your trust, it is her."
"What good is that to me when I have to give her up?" muttered Snape, feeling his throat constrict painfully as he spoke. "We no longer have a reason to meet now that the culprits have been revealed."
"Oh, come now, Severus. If you really want to continue seeing her, I don't believe for a moment you will not work something out. You are a clever man, after all."
Snape looked as if he doubted it, but decided not to comment, opting instead for an excuse to leave. He did not want any more salt rubbed into the wound. "I had better go and take care of Miss Adams and Miss Wilson," he said, "or they will think they have been let off the hook. Good night, Dumbledore."
"Good night, Severus," said Dumbledore, then, just as Snape turned to leave, called after him, "Oh, and don't punish them too severely! They did want to stop, you know. They only continued due to my – ah – interference."
Snape threw him a disgusted look over his shoulder. "You sicken me, Dumbledore. You may mean well, but I sometimes feel you do not realise you are dealing with real people, not chess pieces. I will never forget what you did, nor can you expect me to thank you for it." And with that, he marched out of the room.
